Saturday, April 4, 1998Last modified at 12:51 a.m. on Saturday, April 4, 1998

Madana-Mohana Das, a follower of Hare Krishna, makes a call on his cellular phone at the new Hare Krishna temple and complex in New Delhi, India Tuesday, March 31, 1998. Thirty-two years after their sect was founded in New York, the Hare Krishna's have come full circle - from exporting Indian spirituality in airports to using modern technology to push ancient ideas. Along the way, Hare Krishnas in New Delhi say, they have matured and moved away from the fringes of society. (AP Photo/John McConnico)Hare Krishna center blends old with new

NEW DELHI, India (AP) - More than three decades after their movement was founded in New York, the Hare Krishnas have come full circle - from exporting Indian spirituality to the West to using modern Western technology to promote ancient Indian ideas.

On Sunday, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will open the newest Hare Krishna complex, which includes a temple and a cultural center where robots act out Hindu scriptures.

The Hare Krishna movement - formally known as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness - was founded in New York in the mid-1960s by Srila Prabhupada, an Indian who believed it was his destiny to spread the teachings of the Hindu god Krishna.

Today it claims a worldwide membership of more than 3 million.

Inside the red-brick cultural center, life-size robots that are mobile from the waist up will act out scenes from the Bhagavad Gita and other ancient Hindu texts.

Robot makers from Disneyland and Hollywood were putting the finishing touches this week on the likenesses of gods, scenes from Indian epics and computerized special effects.

"Everything can be used in the service of the lord ... we are living in an age where technology is respected," says Gopal Krishna Goswami, spiritual leader of the project.

The Hare Krishna movement traces its spiritual lineage to the Bhagavad Gita in which Krishna discourses on karma, life after death, life on other planets, and the purpose of life.

The teachings are part of most Indians' spiritual upbringing, though Hare Krishnas are followers of a specific guru's teachings.

Devotees must incorporate into their daily lives four principles drawn from Hindu religious texts - compassion, truthfulness, cleanliness and austerity. To uphold those principles, devotees do not eat meat, use tobacco or caffeine, have illicit sex, or gamble.